On the afternoon of March 15, CVTE organized its employees to sign for the sampling and storage activity of hematopoietic stem cell donors. On the day of the activity, nearly 100 employees signed up to donate samples and become hematopoietic stem cell donors.

After the blood sampling, the personal information of the donors and the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) classification testing information of blood samples will be included in the China Marrow Donor Program, which will pair them with hematological patients all over China and even the world and inform them of the donation once the pairing succeeds. 

By February 28, 2019, the capacity of the China Marrow Donor Program had reached 2.65 million and only 8,068 people in China donated their hematopoietic stem cells. *Due to the extremely low probability of success of hematopoietic stem cell matching, the China Marrow Donor Program needs more volunteers so that more patients will have the chance to find matching hematopoietic stem cells. 

Before organizing the sampling and storage activity, CVTE invited Weng Yaojia, Leader of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donation Service Team of Red Cross Society of China, to give a science lecture. He has donated his hematopoietic stem cells and lymphocyte to one leukemia patient. With his own experience, he shared the knowledge of hematopoietic stem cell donation, its process and the actual feeling of donation. According to him, the hematopoietic stem cell has self-renewal capability and can differentiate into the precursor cells of various blood cells and finally generate the ingredients of blood cells including red blood cell, white blood cell, and blood platelet. Today, most cases of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation get the cells from the peripheral blood, which is as harmless as blood donation. 

Jie, a post-95 young supply chain platform employee participating in the activity, has had many blood donations. “I came to know about the activity from the advertisement displayed in the company’s corridors. In the past, I thought that the hematopoietic stem cell donation was painful and dangerous. Not until I searched the information and consulted the doctor did I know that it causes no damage to the body and the process is even very relaxing. Most importantly, it gives a patient the chance to survive. Therefore, I decided to become a donor.” He added that he has been spreading the knowledge to his friends to try his best to influence more people to donate.   

Song Yan, a business salesperson, mentioned that the day of signing for the donation happened to be the birthday of his two-year-old son and becoming an honorable hematopoietic stem cell donor was a special birthday present for his son. He said, “We are just ordinary people. However, under the company’s influence and organizing, we can also do something extraordinary. Since I have a deep understanding of the anguish of the distressed family, I would do something to give them bigger hopes.”

Ling Ling is another hematopoietic stem cell donor at CVTE. She received a notice of successful matching with a patient and donated the hematopoietic stem cell in 2017. 

Eight years ago, Ling Ling, who was a civic-minded undergraduate student, signed for the hematopoietic stem cell volunteer recruitment program and contributed her blood sample after seeing the advertisement of the Red Cross Society at her school, becoming a hematopoietic stem cell donor of the China Marrow Donor Program. Seven years later, she received a phone call telling her that her blood sample had been matched with a patient. After a test, she decided to be the donor without hesitation. 

Recollecting the process of donating the hematopoietic stem cell, Ling Ling said that she had no intense discomfort. On the contrary, she was most impressed by the letter of thanks from the patient, which made her feel that her decision had truly saved a life and a family. “I just happened to do something I am capable of.  If I had another chance, I still would be the donor. If everyone has made the decision, you can do it fearlessly because you may save a life.”

The collected blood samples will be sent to the matching laboratory for the HLA classification test and included in the database of the China Marrow Donor Program. This means that these 8ml blood samples will be the hopes for a new life for patients someday. Such a seemingly insignificant act saves not only lives but also others’ world. 

Director Huang of the Guangdong Branch of the China Marrow Donor Program, claimed that volunteers from CVTE outperformed those from other enterprises where the Society gave propaganda lectures and organized activities of sampling and storage with their number and willingness. He hopes that CVTE could encourage more people to donate hematopoietic stem cell with its pro-active participation and action to give hopes to more patients. 

The great love is beyond words. CVTE will continue to appeal to more people to become donors, pass the “spark” that rekindles patients’ life and create more wonders of life. 

[Background knowledge]

The hematopoietic stem cell in the human body has very powerful renewal capability. Under normal circumstances, various cells in the human body metabolize every day and perform the ceaseless cycle of generation, aging and death. The blood loss and the hematopoietic stem cell donation can accelerate the hematopoiesis of marrow. Within 1-2 weeks, the blood cells in the blood recover to the previous level. Therefore, the hematopoietic stem cell donation will not affect one’s health. 

There are two methods to collect the hematopoietic stem cell. One is taking the bone marrow hematopoietic stem cell by drawing the bone marrow blood from the ilium of the donor, who is under general or local anesthesia. The second one is collecting the stem cell from the peripheral blood by hemapheresis after injecting the mobilization agent into the donor. 

The database of the Chinese hematopoietic stem cell donors (China Marrow Donor Program for short) uses the second method, which is collecting the hematopoietic stem cell from peripheral blood. The method mobilizes a large quantity of hematopoietic stem cell to the peripheral blood in a scientific way and collects the whole blood of the vein in the donor’s arm, from which hematopoietic stem cell is drawn by the blood cell separator, while transmitting other blood components back into the donor. 

By now, there are no domestic and overseas reports of damages caused by collecting hematopoietic stem cell from peripheral blood to the donor.*

* Source: Official website of China Marrow Donor Program

**The names of all the interviewed employees are pseudonyms.